Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this first weekend of February.
I’m sure we’ve all had the heart-breaking experience that while we were doing something we thought was so good and proper, it backfired on us and turned out to be a mess!
Yesterday I left you in a wonderful parade with King David and a large group of Israelites celebrating as they were bringing the Ark of the Covenant of God to Jerusalem for the very first time. This glorious parade is recorded for us in 2 Samuel 6 & 1 Chronicles 13. All was going so well, until suddenly disaster struck!
The record of 2 Samuel 6:3 says: “They set the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab… Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the Ark of God on it…When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore, God struck Uzzah down and he died there beside the Ark of God.”
Are you as stunned as those people must have been in this moment? Are you even angered or repulsed by this? It sure seems everyone, including David and Uzzah, were doing their best to honor God and care for the Ark properly, yet disaster struck in an instant, and Uzzah lay dead alongside the cart with the Ark on it. Why? Why did God strike Uzzah dead? What had Uzzah done to deserve death?
The record continues: “David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah… David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, ‘How can the Ark of the LORD ever come to me?’ David was not willing to take the Ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead David took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom. The Ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.” (1 Samuel 6:8-11)
There are times in the Bible when we have more than one record of an event or a period of time in history. The four Gospels in the New Testament are a good example. The Holy Spirit of God led four different men to each write the story of the life and ministry of Jesus. Their record bears their name: Matthew the Jewish tax collector and disciple of Jesus; Mark who was likely a teenager during the days of Jesus’ ministry and may have been cousin to Barnabas; Luke who was a Gentile Physician who traveled with the apostle Paul; and John the brother of James, close friend of Jesus and called the ‘beloved disciple’.
While they each wrote the story of Jesus, they each wrote from a different perspective and to a different audience, but each man was led and anointed by the Holy Spirit in their writing. 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13-16 are another example of two different authors writing about the same events. Comparing these two accounts we can fill out the story a bit more.
1 Chronicles 15 tells us David prepared a special place to receive the Ark, for clearly his deep desire to have God’s presence close to him in his new ‘hometown’, ‘the City of David’, remained a burning passion for David. But rather than building a permanent structure, David constructed a special tent which he designed only for the Ark. I presume David did so because the Ark had resided, since the days of its fabrication at Mount Sinai, in the Tabernacle, which was a large tent, and in fact was called the “Tent of Meeting”. (Exodus 40) Then David began giving specific instructions for a second attempt to bring the Ark of God to “the City of David” and in those instructions we discover that David had evidently sought some counsel and done some research to try and understand why God had struck Uzzah dead.
1 Chron. 15:2 says: “Then David said, ‘No one but the Levites may carry the Ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever… David said to the Levites, you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring the Ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way.”
It had been more than 400 years since Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai had fabricated the “Tent of Meeting” and the sacred worship artifacts including the Ark of the Covenant, as God had directed them. More than 400 years since Moses had received from God very specific instructions about how the Israelites were to worship God and specifically how they were to treat the sacred worship artifacts like the Ark.
But then as now, things are forgotten or adjusted to be more contemporary with each new generation, and it appears it was only after David and some of those Levites did some due diligence into the ancient Scriptures that they realized they had defiled and desecrated the Ark by placing on a human made cart pulled by oxen, rather than being carried on the shoulders of consecrated Levites.
And also, that Uzzah, even though with good intentions, had reached out and touched the Ark, rather than only consecrated Levites being the men who could actually touch the Ark. (Exodus 25:10-22; Numbers 4:15-20)
Also, even though David had promised the people that he and the Israelite leaders would ‘inquire of the LORD’ when they were facing a major decision, they had failed by NOT inquiring of the LORD about the proper way to treat and move the sacred Ark of God’s Covenant. An important lesson was learned by David and his leaders and this time the record says: “So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the Ark of the LORD the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the Ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded them in accordance with the word of the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 15:14,15)
It should not be difficult for us to imagine my friends. Very long, gold plated poles run through the gold rings on the four corners of the Ark of the Covenant, which enabled the consecrated Levites to lift the Ark to their shoulders without touching the Ark. And then marching in unison the Ark would be carefully transported almost perfectly stable. And finally, upon their arrival at their destination the Ark could be set down, again without being touched by human hands.
As you read the remainder of 1 Chronicles 15 it is again a remarkable account of King David and thousands of people each playing their part in the parade, bringing the one and only, sacred Ark of God’s Covenant, up to “the City of David” for the very first time. Then, this statement: “They brought the Ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God… Then David blessed the people in the name of the LORD… David appointed some of the Levites to minister before the Ark of the LORD, to make petitions, to give thanks and to praise the LORD the God of Israel…” (1 Chronicles 16:1-6) As the sun set on this remarkable day, “The City of David” was changed. A special tent now had worship and prayer taking place nearly 24 hours a day around the Ark of the Covenant of God, at home in Jerusalem for the first time in history.
We don’t know exactly where it was in the city, but I’m confident David had positioned this special tent so he could SEE the worship taking place from his residence. Why? Because David had a passion for the Presence of God to be near him at all times. David wanted to be able to go worship any time, day or night, that the Spirit of God stirred in his heart.
Is that a picture of you and me, my “Walking with Jesus” friends? As you consider what takes place in your home, the music played, the things seen on your screens, the conversations and even the things on your walls, is your heart being drawn to worship of Holy, Almighty God? How would things be different for you and me if the sacred Presence of God was strongly felt in our homes 24/7, every day of the year? Here’s a worship song to help us consider this, my dear friends…
Today’s Scripture: 1 Chronicles 15:1 – 16:6.
Choose below to read or listen.
1 Chronicles 15
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1 Chronicles16
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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